Mobile Development iOS, Osx, Android

I am in need of some advise regarding my Mobile app I plan on developing.
First let me give you some background.

The App in discussion will be modelled around 5000 - 6000 (or even more) videos.
The tota video size could be around 800Mb - 1.5Gb+.

Now my question is what would be the best modal to deliver these videos to the mobile device?

Different scenarios I could imagine:
1. Let the user download all the videos to device when installing? What is cons & pros here?
2. Have a video service in the cloud which will get the video on demand only. What services are available at good prices? And also would local caching of the video be possible?
3. Would it possible of I host these videos on my website, same as in #2, and as the user request the video it will then only download the video and cache it locally. Videos sizes (per unit) will not be over 1Mb.

I would love to here all your suggestions.
Obviously I am looking for the most elegant, robust and least labour intensive method.
Also don't forget I am on a lowish budget :)

1. Include videos in app:
pros: user doesn't have to be internet connected to view the videos
cons: storage (cheaper phones with low storage are getting in trouble, maybe won't even install)
2. Youtube, no charge at all! Hell, if you're popular enough, you might even earn money!
3. Stick with youtube

App design: video with titles, links to youtube (doesn't have to be obvious, depending on OS, it might launch Youtube without user's knowledge)
When you change videos, just adjust video links and titles. User doesn't have to redownload all the 1.5GB+ !
Managing different apps is now easier too.
But as I said, only con is that the user has to be online to use the app, but saves you major costs in bandwidth and managing app.
Also, if your app is really TOO simple, the comments on the app's page will say "It's just a youtube link collection!"

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VentureSAAuthor Commented: 2014-04-23

Hi kimputer,

Thanks for the reply.

I agree with your comment.
Would it be possible to cache youtube vids offline after first time user watched it?

How sensitive in general would you think are consumers regarding cellular data usage?
My app will target mostly US citizens. And nope - it won't just be a youtube collection as well :) But the core of the app is regarding education / training.

My collection of training vids are in categories & subcategories. Up to 3 levels deep.
What would be the best to maintain my tree hierarchy in the app dynamically?
Perhaps using a special naming convention in the youtube filename? Or can one categories youtube videos and with youtube api perhaps read the categories and vids inside categories and on the mobile app site build my hierarchy on the fly?

Caching is a problem, it's against YouTube's user policy.
I'm not sure about US cellular data usage. Here in Europe it's still quite expensive, with no high speed unlimited subscriptions available.
YouTube's API is quite simple and doesn't do much targeting (showing a playlist is possible, but you can't target one specific item in that list). This leaves you with just keeping a list of videos and the correct url, and hard coding this into your app

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VentureSAAuthor Commented: 2014-04-24

So guess if I go youtube way I will have to keep a local record of Video name and url. My own little catalogue / register. And should videos be added or change I will just update my local catalogue file?
Basically what you said?

Thanks for the brainstorm session :)
Was hoping more people joined but your thought did assist me.
Will assign the points to you within next day.